It’s all thanks to the creator of Succession and a mutual friend the actor and Beckham share.
Among the incredibly deep bench of scene-stealing supporting characters on hit series Succession was Hugo Baker, played by Fisher Stevens, a slimy and smarmy senior communications executive at Logan Roy’s company.
That said, fans of the show and of Stevens’ memorable performance may have been slightly taken back by the actor’s presence in the recently released Netflix documentary series all about ex-footballer David Beckham.
The four-part show – which currently holds a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score – was in fact directed by Stevens, who on top of being a prolific character actor is also a filmmaker – having helmed the Leonardo DiCaprio produced environmental-themed documentaries And We Go Green and Before the Flood.
On top of this, he directed the Justin Timberlake-starring drama Palmer and won an Oscar for producing the 2010 documentary The Cove.
David Beckham and Fisher Stevens together
According to Stevens, part of what got him the gig working on the David Beckham project was his connection with DiCaprio.
In an interview for the docuseries’ release with The Guardian, he explained: “David was hanging out with Leo, and asked him who he should get.
“He recommended me! David watched Before the Flood then Palmer that I directed and saw something he liked – the emotion I guess.”
However, Stevens – though interested in football from producing a documentary about American club the New York Cosmos in 2006 – was not hugely familiar with Beckham and at first, thought about turning down the chance to direct the show.
That said, he changed his mind after being persuaded to take the job by Jesse Armstrong, the English creator of Succession.
“I was like: ‘Nah.’ That’s going to be two years of my life and I’d really have to love spending time in that world,” Stevens told The Guardian.
“But then the [Succession] writers, especially Jesse, said to me: ‘You cannot not do this. This is a great story.’ I didn’t know the story.”
And on Beckham himself, Fisher Stevens said in the interview: “People think he’s this beautiful guy, that everything was handed to him. Not true.
“He worked his way up and he could have been crushed by what happened to him in 1998 [the footballer being sent off during an England World Cup clash against Argentina] – but he wasn’t. He’s one of the strongest people I know.”
Beckham is streaming on Netflix right now.
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